LA City Council Expands Adaptive Reuse Policy To Entire City

The Los Angeles City Council this week voted to expand the adaptive reuse ordinance to apply citywide in a move aimed at making it easier to convert vacant offices into much-needed housing. 

The new ordinance repeals the city’s existing Adaptive Reuse Incentive Areas Specific Plan, which had kept conversions confined to areas of the city including Downtown, Chinatown, Hollywood and Koreatown.

It also broadens the age of the buildings that can be considered for adaptive reuse to those at least 15 years old and allows more projects to receive approvals by right, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. 

Some developers have been quick to dismiss the feasibility of adaptive reuse without massive monetary incentives to make the numbers work, while others have said that sale prices for LA simply haven't dropped low enough yet to make sometimes costly conversion projects pencil out.

But others, especially those with a track record of doing these projects, have eagerly awaited the approval of this ordinance. 

The updated rules have been in the works since 2023, but those working in adaptive reuse have said it could open doors for more projects, which would help move the needle in the city's efforts to increase its housing supply. 

Conversions of offices to residential could yield an estimated 4,400 homes, a RentCafe report from February found. 

The expanded adaptive reuse rules stand on the shoulders of the city's 1999-era rules, which facilitated the creation of more than 12,000 housing units in Downtown and are largely credited with kick-starting Downtown's switch from a business district to a place where white-collar workers linger and even live.